A College ‘Promise’ That Aids a City

This decade, more than 4.4 million Americans will be shut out of enrollment at four-year colleges due to an inability to afford the cost, according to a federal report, with 2 million of those prospective students not able to attend any college at all. But an innovative philanthropic effort in Kalamazoo, MIch., may be pointing to one possible solution to the tuition squeeze, writes Caroline Heine on the PhilanthroMedia blog.

Kalamazoo Promise,, a charity supported by anonymous donors (or, as its Web site describes them, “a small group of very nice people”), offers a scholarship to every public school student in the district. It is not only putting college within reach Ms. Heine writes, but is boosting the city — and its future labor force — along with the schools and their students.

The urban school district struggled with budget cuts and decades of declining enrollment, writes Ms. Heine, but she cites a National Public Radio report in which Kalamazoo Promise administrator Robert Jorth said he gets calls daily from families interested in moving into the district.

“While local economists say it’s too soon to chart the economic effect of the Promise,” she quotes National Public Radio, “there are already positive signs. Local Realtors say home sales are up 6 percent this year and prices are up an average of 7 percent.”

“Is your community making a college promise to its citizens?” Ms. Heine concludes. “Please share your lessons learned (and benefits gained) so that communities contemplating such a program can gain from your wisdom.” Click on the “comments” link below to join the discussion.